Dallas Man Behind Computer Dating Bill

DALLAS NEWS -- Apr 27 -- Herb Vest, the Dallas entrepreneur who led the fight to reshape the accounting industry, is taking on a new set of opponents: massive technology companies. His rivals oppose his nationwide effort to require that users of online dating services undergo criminal background checks. His last crusade roiled the accounting establishment, resulting in changes to state rules that broadened the profession's emphasis from independent audits to selling financial advice. When opponents say that he is redeeming political chits to advance his bill for criminal-background checks, Mr. Vest notes that his opponents spend more on lobbyists, and donate more to politicians, than he does. Mr. Vest founded True.com in 2003, after selling his share of the accounting business he founded, H.D. Vest Inc., to Wells Fargo in 2001 for ~$84 million. Mr. Vest said he started the site because he was concerned about the country's "prodigious divorce rate." True.com features a compatibility test that Mr. Vest says was developed by a psychological research firm. "A 50% divorce rate leaves in its wake devastation among children," he said.